orporate Social Responsibility for ommunity Development A ...

Technical Assistance to the Civil Society organizations 2 (TACSO 2) from the IPA Beneficiaries

EuropeAid/133642/C/SER/Multi

„Corporate Social Responsibility for Community Development-

A Way Forward for Civil Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina“

Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, 23-24 June 2014

REPORT

2

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Bosnia and Herzegovina Office

This project is funded

by the European Union.

Content

Introduction 3

1. Report from Opening session (Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations) 4

2. Report from session “Corporate Social Responsibility – holistic approach – recognition for community developments”, Settar Dinler, Kadir Has University, Istanbul 5

3. Report from session “EU funded Regional projects- Strategic approach models” 7

4. Report from session “Exchange of experiences, discussion, suggestions for future cooperation” 7

5. Report from session “Elements of CSR Quality in BiH: business sector, civil society, academic community, media - good practices” 9

6. Report from session “Open Space for contact building and suggestions for continuation of activities on regional and BiH level” 10

7. Summary of the Evaluation results 12

8. Summary of finding from Press Clipping report and Report from social networks 14

9. Annexes to the Report 16

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Introduction

On 23rd and 24th of June TACSO Office in Bosnia and Herzegovina organized a conference on the topic of „Corporate Social Responsibility for Community Development - A Way Forward for Civil Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina“, aiming to enhance mutual understanding and practice of corporative social responsibility (CSR) in Bosnia and Herzegovina through involvement of all actors from academia, businesses, governmental institutions and civil society organizations. Expected results were focused on getting a more holistic approach when it comes to the dialogue between all interested sides. This implied developing strategic orientation for making a positive impact on society by upgrading the capacities of all sectors and fostering very much needed cooperation. The conference was successful as following results were reached: • Participants gained a better insight into various aspects of the partnership of civil society and the business sector in the area of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). • Key stakeholders enhanced their capacities to participate in a mutual dialogue between governmental institutions, business community, civil society, academia, media. • Presenters made everybody aware of new inspiring practices contributing to the development of new ways of addressing the needs of communities within the CSR concept. • New ideas were exchanged and platform for not only national but regional cooperation and networking was created. The main conclusion was that cooperation is more than needed between all sectors and that we should focus on good practices. Only through this approach a healthy social ecosystem can be created for development of communities. The conference was attended by 70 participants coming from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Turkey. The additional value is that there were representatives from academia, business sector, civil society coming from both entities Republika Srpska, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and District Brčko. Their interaction was at the highest level allowing them to exchange ideas and learn from each other. As well Conference was extremely covered by media: there were in total 34 announcements out

of which: 9 TV stations, 4 printed media and 21 internet portals.

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1st DAY - 23rd June 2014

1. Report from Opening session (Ministry of Civil Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations)

There were three speakers shortly addressing participants at the opening session. Ms. Slavica Drašković, Resident Advisor of TACSO Office in BiH welcomed the participants by expressing TACSO’s expectations from the conference. Right after her Mr. Dragan Milović from Ministry of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations BiH addressed the audience stressing that only in cooperation with one another civil society can make significant impact. Also he pointed out that institution he is representing will continue supporting civil society in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The other speaker was Mr. Džemal Hodžić from Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina. His emphasis was on the financial crises and emerged lack of trust in business sector by citizens which is the reason why European Union even made strategic decision towards more support of corporate social responsibility. Ms Slavica Drašković then kindly asked participants to shortly introduce to each other before we continued working.

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2. Report from session “Corporate Social Responsibility – holistic approach – recognition for community developments”, Settar Dinler, Kadir Has University, Istanbul

Mr. Settar Dinler, Association for CSR in Turkey started the session with short video about kindness. This was an opening point for discussion about importance of corporate social responsibility. The lecturer stressed that with kindness the world can be made a better place. Right after the movie a short presentation about the new world and new values was followed. Participants were made aware of all big events that introduced new ways of living in the world, where word SOCIAL has marked the year of 2000. This made impact on the way business in conducted and social corporative responsibility gained more importance across the planet. It was described as a voluntarily decision of a company to make positive impact on society going beyond legal obligations. That implies taking into regard different stakeholders when being cooperatively, socially and ethically responsible. It was explained that CSR promotes

human rights, freedom, environmental protection, transparency, equality. Different maps were presented showing the relation between democracy and GDP and conflicts in the context reflecting the ratio between democracy and GDP. One slide in particular shocked the audience and described how sharks kill 10 people per year where as businesses kill 2.000.000 people annually. Lecturer managed to present CSR as a way of life not only of companies but professionalisms leading them. This demonstrated how in the world still suffering from financial crises CSR as a behavioral change should be advocated and spread among all actors. After that Settar Dinler shared more concrete examples and experience from Kadir Has University that aims to strengthen the neighbourhood program (Mahala program) where it operates in economic, social and environmental terms in order to create a shared value for both the university and the neighbouring community (mahala) in large. He told that it is important in that sense to have dialogue channels with related stakeholders and to provide solutions to the challenges of the mahala all together. In this respect, Settar Dinler mentioned that Kadir Has University assembled a Stakeholder Committee/Board staffed by people from neighbourhood (mahala) and university representatives so that local residents’ expectations can be met and solutions to problems can be jointly found. The Committee/Board meets twice a year to discuss university projects which will have an impact on surrounding areas. He gave some examples about the projects developed by the Committee/Board: Mentor Sisters and Brothers Project - University students volunteer as mentors to support students at Cibali Primary School with their homework and assignments; Projects for Local Residents - The students of the Communications Faculty provide free support to local residents for promotional materials such as advertising, design work, brochures, and business cards; Charity Marathon (Run for Good) - The marathon is organized annually where the collected money goes

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to the CSR projects for the region such as part of that money last year was used to support photography courses for local residents and a Children’s Science Academy, which aims to help socioeconomically disadvantaged children to become more open, visioned and occupied with talents; Cibali Postası - Kadir Has students voluntarily work for the university’s newspaper, Cibali Postası. The newspaper helps students and university staff learn more about the local area, and residents also get to know more about the university, including events that are held on campus.

The interactive presentation was followed by vivid discussion. Participants pointed out and concluded that here in the region we are not starting from the scratch in the field of CSR. The reason is that many of the principles were part of doing business during Yugoslav time and that now they just should be adjusted and incorporated while respecting the specific of the our society. Another interesting thing is that some participants disagreed that CSR should be voluntarily and that companies should be legally obliged to do more for communities they work in. It was concluded that what-ever businesses in question it should be done properly, following the CSR principles if we aim for progress and better quality of life.

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3. Report from session “EU funded Regional projects- Strategic approach models”

The idea of this session was to offer insight to participant about three different approaches when it comes to promotion of values of corporate social responsibility. Ms. Nil Mit from Turkish Confederation of Employers’ Association (TISK) and Ms. Biserka Sladović from Croatian Association of Employers (HUP) made their presentations about EU funded project “CSR for all”- implementation in Turkey and respectfully in Croatia. They gave key info on how developing a capacity of employer organizations can contribute to promotion of CSR concept. The next presenter was Ms. Lejla Kusturica from Mozaik Foundation. She presented also EU supported project “SIGN for Sustainability” aiming to promote individual and corporative philanthropy. Her focus was transparency of NGOs as a way to initiate inter-sector cooperation and ensure sustainability of civil society.

4. Report from session “Exchange of experiences, discussion, suggestions for future cooperation”

One of the most interesting parts of the conference were interactive sessions. This session posed some of the question and significantly inspired participants to share their opinion. In small groups they had a chance to go in depth and offer their suggestions. These are the main findings offered by them when answering the following questions:

When they were questioned which leading principles and values should characterize partnership relations between business and civil sector, the participants said following: transparency, tolerance, solidarity, social responsibility, mutual respect, the right to criticism, justice, initiative determination, diversity, legality, dialogue, trust, joint advocacy to policy makers to enact laws that will enhance the community, common goals and interests, networking, active participation, clearly defined roles

On the question how civil society organizations can enhance their functional sustainability in the area of human rights/employees, rights of marginalized groups when it comes to questions of ecology, the issue of consumer protection, education, culture, sport they agreed that this is absolutely a question of tax relief that would mean more support towards civil society by the business sector. Then the importance of education on the social responsibility of all interested parties was outlined. It was pointed out that the basic principle should be win-win and it should always be thought about how everyone can achieve their goals.

The participants pointed out that the issues important to the business community that can be addressed in a synergetic cooperation with civil society uniting the knowledge, skills and experience of the two sectors are primarily related to the construction of environment in

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which these two sectors can work together through networks and partnerships. Cooperation is needed when working on the regulation of markets, capital accumulation, the development of an entrepreneurial spirit, retraining workers, transparency, advocacy, promotion of corporate social responsibility, sustainability, communication.

At the end about the ways in which communication and cooperation between civil society organizations and the business sector in BiH can be improved, this is what was suggested: meetings, contacts, conferences and round tables, sector cooperation, education, transparency, networking NGOs and the business sector - a partnership-recognition practices, training, joint approach to the business sector, identifying the benefits of connectivity - both for the sector and for society as a whole, promotion of the role of NGOs / role of local authorities to introduce university students and high school students with profiles of companies, retraining - at the expense of the state, analysis and identification of problems of business sector - a common legislation finalization, advocacy, promotion of CSR, advocacy in public policy (local and other regulations - analysis), formal employment programs, information.

After working in groups participants presented their contributions to each other. This initiated discussion showing how much representatives of all sectors need these kind of interaction in order to reach their goals more successfully. With this the first day of conference was officially over.

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2nd DAY – 24th June 2014

5. Report from session “Elements of CSR Quality in BiH: business sector, civil society, academic community, media - good practices”

Second day started with presenting different concepts in all sectors across Bosnia and Herzegovina focused on whether promotion or implementation of CSR principles. Mr. Zoran Puljić, director of Mozaik Foundation shared a story about creation of award “DOBRO”.

This award aimed to promote and give recognition to companies respecting the CSR principles. He said that in Bosnia and Herzegovina so many great/successful stories happen as a result of cooperation of NGO sector and business sector on a daily basis but they do not gain media coverage. The award “DOBRO” aimed to bridge this gap and show what can be done when different sectors unite and address the needs of communities. Very similar concept of award was presented by Ms. Dragana Kokot Commerce of Chamber of

Republika Srpska. The mentioned Chamber organizes similar award every year in March. The aim is to educate companies about the model and give recognitions to the ones respecting it the most. Ms. Murisa Marić from organization DON from Prijedor gave different prospective showing everybody how corporate socially responsible company can do something great for community. She presented a concrete project implemented in cooperation with international company Arcelor Mittal. Each year workers from this company from across the globe come to Prijedor at the expanse of the company to spend their vacation as volunteers on the project “Camp of kids smiles” which aims to spread new methods of learning for children in post-conflict community such as Prijedor. In her opinion this project is tearing down some prejudices about profit sector through CSR approach. Mr. Vedran Perišić from Global Compact Network in Bosnia and Herzegovina presented some challenges for CSR model in Bosnia and Herzegovina. He stressed out that no one should expect media attention for the support and how no one for support to CSR should expect any kind of reward. Ms. Dobrila Močević from PRIME Communications presented a research about the state of PR profession in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As a result of it a project “PR challenge” was created to bridge the gap of lack of practical experience for students of Faculty of Communications. Mrs. Seid Fijuljanin from BiH Association of Employers shared the most successful project of this organization. The project was focused on making companies more inclusive when it comes to employment of people with disabilities. Within the project many od people with disabilities were employed and companies also exchanged their employees in order to give them an opportunity to find the best suitable working positions.

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Ms. Adisa Omerbegovic Arapović from Sarajevo School of Science and Technology shared academic perspective of challenges standing in from of CSR model in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She explained how market in Bosnia and Herzegovina is not regulated enough and with such a high levels of gray economy, companies are having hard time to survive. She said that aside from promotion of CSR, we have to install new values and push the state to create more stimulating environment for responsible doing of business.

6. Report from session “Open Space for contact building and suggestions for continuation of activities on regional and BiH level”

This was an inspiring session as all participants were very much eager to share their suggestions for what can be done both regionally and at BiH level for further promotion of CSR model. When speaking about activities and practices that can be done in Bosnia and Herzegovina these are the main recommendations:

Involve employers' associations in activities related to CSR Establish bridges of cooperation between NGOs and with employers Analysis of public policies concerning the improvement of the business environment and

cooperation with the civil sector Exchange of good practices State WEB platform Working together to reduce para-fiscal imposts Organization of joint informative and educational workshops (Multi-stakeholders meeting) Organizing the annual award for CSR companies - organizations Social Standards Roundtable Follow the experience from neighboring countries Terminology adjustment Guidebook on CSR CSR BiH Association Good things should be promoted Take into account the difference between the smaller and larger communities Create pressure on government institutions through identification of laws that should be

adopted or amended (legal framework) Participate in the education of children Criticize a detrimental effect on those in the vicinity and society Transparency Marketing - involve the media in the promotion of CSR Regular meetings of the NGO sector, the business sector and government institutions Legal arrangements: legal regulation that allows donating funds from the business sector

to civil society organizations in order to create a favorable environment for cooperation Recognizing the interest of cooperation through the promotion of the interests of the

community and specific organizations Lobbying in the same order for changes to the law in the interest of both sides

(representation of interests)

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Identify potential motives of the business sector: the sales of goods or services, preparation of personnel for the business sector, agriculture, IT ...

Establishing cooperation with a goal of a joint approach to EU funds To organize meetings between NGOs and the business sector at the local level in order to

understand and recognize opportunities for cooperation with visits of those who can convey best practices enabled by the references and sources of further information

Organizing courses for students about CSR within the university, and to provide practice in NGOs and the business sector

Involve the media in a way to identify and offer attractive content that will attract their attention

Local governments should be involved in the promotion and evaluation of CSR Regional cooperation was also recognized as very important. Here are the suggestions for additional strengthening:

Regional WEB platform Annual awards at the regional level for CSR companies - organizations Study visits, regional web resource center, a post-graduate studies on CSR Promote good practices Sharing experiences through regional meetings, conferences, round tables ...

A few additional interesting questions/comments from the sessions: -Why CSR should be voluntarily? - How do you describe that most of biggest democracies accumulated their wealth through colonization? - Is CSR a Trojan horse of neo-liberal policies? - Bosnia has a practice from previous system that can rely on (e.g. employees/workers were allocated flats; they did not pay for that) - We have to keep the potential of volunteerism and solidarity even after floods.

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7. Summary of the Evaluation results

Graph 1

Graph 2

Graph 2

Graph 3

Graph 4

Graph 3

Graph 4

How would you rate content of the plenary sessions overall?

Excellent

Very good

God

Fair

Poor

How would you rate moderation of the plenary sessions?

Excellent

Very good

God

Fair

Poor

Intro plenary session 1: CSR - ignition for community development - Kadir Has University (Mr Settar Dinler):

Excellent

Very good

God

Fair

Poor

What is your overall impression of the event?

Excellent

Very good

God

Fair

Poor

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Some of the participants’ comments:

We have acquainted with experiences from Turkey and Croatia and their accomplishments in CSR area and that in BiH CSR is far behind in relation to the surrounding. Once again it was pointed out that cooperation between all key actors can lead to better CSR promotion and implementation in all aspect of life. With this conference possibility was given to exchange experiences and other needed resources for implementation of CSR in everyday life.

Conference can be rated with highest grade in sense of organisation and content wide. Working groups were formed of representatives of different sectors which was a great idea.

Activities of other CSO's have served as a good basis for exchange of information and taking look on each other’s positions. Added value is connection and exchange of ideas for potential cooperation of Conference participants. Special moment was Turkey experience on CSR and how they have gradually taken CSR on higher level. For me personally, I have developed some ideas that I plan to implement through my institutions and cooperation with some of the conference participants.

Panel discussions have tackled me to think differently and in innovative approach. CSR is closely connected to Social Entrepreneurship that can be agent of positive changes of new society values.

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8. Summary of finding from Press Clipping report and Report from social networks

There were 34 announcements in total before, during and after the Conference.

Printed media (daily newspapers) – 4 (Dnevni list, Oslobođenje-2x, Dnevni Avaz)

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TV - 9 (SensServis, INFOBIRO, Federalna televizija, TV Hema, Hayat, TV Sahar, RTRS, TV1, FENA)

Internet portals - 21

http://goo.gl/Cvflh9

http://goo.gl/2hxUjA

http://goo.gl/9ob5fN

http://goo.gl/YUAeFi

http://goo.gl/NFtuRb

http://goo.gl/1dcOzC

http://goo.gl/DgUExA

http://goo.gl/RYNvmF

http://goo.gl/ozDjmP

http://goo.gl/oJalKb

http://www.fena.ba/public2/News/News.aspx?news_id=FSA1329838



http://goo.gl/Rks5n7

http://goo.gl/rmgfm1

http://goo.gl/CREyqF

http://goo.gl/VqE5tx

http://goo.gl/zSvf8V

http://goo.gl/XGAHn1

http://goo.gl/VVQFUw

http://goo.gl/nZEkjV

Total outreach of the information offered through TACSO Facebook profile during the Conference and after the Conference were 2499 persons. Analysis of Twitter activities shown that there were 99 tweets sent which contained design of #CSRBiH2014. #CSRBiH2014 tweets had outreach between of 5000 do 8000 Twitter profiles, while visibility of #CSRBiH2014 tweets was over 120 000 profiles.

http://goo.gl/Cvflh9

http://goo.gl/2hxUjA

http://goo.gl/9ob5fN

http://goo.gl/YUAeFi

http://goo.gl/NFtuRb

http://goo.gl/1dcOzC

http://goo.gl/DgUExA

http://goo.gl/RYNvmF

http://goo.gl/ozDjmP

http://goo.gl/oJalKb




http://goo.gl/Rks5n7

http://goo.gl/rmgfm1

http://goo.gl/CREyqF

http://goo.gl/VqE5tx

http://goo.gl/zSvf8V

http://goo.gl/XGAHn1

http://goo.gl/VVQFUw

http://goo.gl/nZEkjV

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9. Annexes to the Report Annex A: Conference Agenda

Annex B: List of Participants

Annex C: Presentations

Annex D: Evaluation

Annex E: Press Clipping Report

Annex F: Report from Social networks

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